Cocogun's Ant Melder on Founding Australia's First Creative Scholarship for Indigenous Students
Back in 2019, when Chiquita King and I first opened the doors of Cocogun, it was with a vow to deliver audacious creativity and a promise to move the world forward. Over the last five years, there have been some amazing days when we’ve felt like we’re achieving that mission. And others when we’ve felt like we still have so far to go. It’s been encouraging, fascinating and inspiring to see how a creative company can have an impact on the wider world.
I was reflecting on this journey in October last year when, sitting in the big, grand room at Sydney Town Hall, full of mixed emotions, I waited for my Australian citizenship ceremony to begin. Suddenly, a memory floated through my head, one that went far further back than 2019. I remembered being 17 years old in November 1990 and blagging my way into The Stone Roses’ first big gig down south, at Alexandra Palace, in North London. The band, and the show, have gone down in music history for the way they synthesised the timeless melody of 60s music with a very contemporary attitude, swagger and political nous.
Back then, the term ‘Madchester’ had been coined by the British music press to lump together a bunch of disparate bands including The Roses and Happy Mondays. These bands had a shared outlook and a shared cohort of boisterous, mad-fer-it fans. So the gig at Ally Pally that day was seen as the big Manchester invasion of London. During the gig these fans broke out into intermittent chants of “MANCHESTER LA LA LA!”. As this played out, Stone Roses singer, Ian Brown, who was well known for his sharp intelligence and cutting wit, took in the partisan vibe of the crowd and, rather than feeding into it with an obvious comment about Manchester pride, he deflated the crowd’s bubble with a thought-provoking remark about the very nature of regional/national pride: “IT AIN’T WHERE YA FROM, IT’S WHERE YA AT.”
Even somewhat overawed by the excitement of the night, the thrill of being there, the lights, music and the three cans of piss-weak Skol lager I’d consumed earlier, 17-year old me clocked this comment as something deeper and more worthy of reflection than standard rock band gig banter. And all these years later, sitting there in Town Hall, waiting for Clover Moore to kick things off, it came back to me.
I reflected that one of the reasons Ian Brown’s spur-of-the-moment epigram resonated so strongly with me was that, because of my mixed race background, I’ve never really felt like I fully belonged to one specific ethnic tribe. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be prouder of my Bangladeshi-Anglo-Indian-East London DNA, but it’s given me a lifelong, deep-seated mistrust of any form of patriotism. Which made sitting there in Town Hall waiting to pledge my allegiance and become an Australian citizen a rather ironic situation. And, to be honest, having been here for a decade, I’d walked into the room with a slightly blasé attitude. But over the course of that hour and a half, as I watched new citizens originally from 72 countries around the world have their big moment and then come down off stage in tears of joy, my perspective changed. I started to think about how lucky I am to live here in Sydney, what my commitment to citizenship meant, and how it could be so much more than just a celebration of pageantry with some nice photos for Instagram.
Where I got to in the days and weeks following the ceremony, is that citizenship is a two-way street. As much as I’ve always loved Groucho Marx’s famous dictum that “I wouldn’t want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member”, it doesn’t apply here. It’s a genuine privilege to live here as an Australian citizen, with all the benefits that entails, to bring my kids up here, in relative safety, and a relatively high standard of living. And, as Clover Moore pointed out at the ceremony, it’s on me to play my part and give something back. Which, going back to the very start of this piece, is where Cocogun comes in. As well as our ambition to do work that has a positive impact on the world, we’ve always subscribed to Maya Angelou’s note that you should “Do the best you can until you know better…and when you know better, do better.”
When we founded Cocogun, we identified building connections with Indigenous communities as one of our priorities. We went in with a spirit of deep respect and being fully open to listening and learning. We’re still no experts in this space, but it’s led to us meeting and working with some amazing people, and founding the Cocogun Creative Scholarship For Indigenous Students. Now in its third year, the aim is to create pathways for Indigenous students into creative careers. And, bearing in mind all of my soul-searching about what it means to be an official part of this nation and bring something to the table, it now feels more important than ever.
Of course, I wouldn’t be the first person to point out the grim irony that Indigenous people are the world’s oldest continuous culture of storytellers and yet, in an industry where we actually like to call ourselves ‘Storytellers’(well, not me, but I’ve seen a lot of it on LinkedIn!), they’re so poorly represented. With some brilliant exceptions, agency land and its satellite industries are sadly missing out on all of that talent.
To date, we’ve awarded scholarships to four students. And this year’s scholars are both perfect examples of what we’re aiming to do with the program. Both great examples of raw talent, impressive work ethic and refreshing lack of ego, Taine Woodford and Mannix Thomson stood out among a field of excellent candidates.
Taine is studying for Bachelor of Communication in Journalism. Now in the third year of his scholarship, he’s been working hard to move towards his ambition of becoming a sports journalist. One of the most down-to-earth, hard-working students we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, his attitude is an absolute credit to his family, his mob, UTS and the Scholarship. We love hanging out with Taine and seeing how he’s embraced the opportunity to study his course. When we asked him about how his studies are going and how the scholarship is helping he was as gracious and authentic as ever. He talked about the confidence he feels knowing he has a team in his corner. “I come from a small town so it’s been great to make these connections. And I’m taking the confidence the scholarship has given me into everything I’m doing now - and I know I’ll take it into my future career, too.”
Mannix is studying a Bachelor of Communication (Writing and Publishing). With a passion for writing and photography, he’s considering combining the two disciplines with the intent to travel around Australia, publishing a photo journal along the way. Having worked as a Lighting Assistant on short films with some talented filmmakers he’s also thinking about writing/directing films in the future. When we asked him how the Scholarship has impacted his life, he agreed with Taine that the confidence that comes from knowing you have a team on your side, cheering you on, there to support you if needed, is a great boost. He also talked about the practical help the scholarship provides: “As the funds cover my rent, I can spend less time worrying about the day-to-day stuff and more energy focused on my Uni work. It gives me the chance to do the best I can in my degree, and also the freedom to spend time on creative projects.” And outside of the practicalities, Mannix mentioned how the idea of building an ongoing relationship is a positive thing: “It feels like right now is the beginning of a connection rather than an end point.”
The idea for the scholarship is for the current scholars - and those in the future - to become a part of the Cocogun family. Whether that evolves into placements, jobs, or opportunities to connect with our wider network - who knows. What I do know is that it’s a pleasure and a privilege to be connected with these students, and to play a small part in their future success.
And beyond the individuals involved, we’ve always strived for The Cocogun Creative Scholarship For Indigenous Students to be an inspiration for other agencies. Apparently there are 9,000 creative agencies in Australia. Imagine if every one of them - big and small, independent and network - had their own scholarship for Indigenous students.
I guess this was a long and roundabout way of throwing a challenge down to the industry. There are loads of great initiatives out there, loads of agencies doing interesting stuff to connect with Indigenous communities. But we can do more. We should do more. We MUST do more.
Trying to build these bridges isn’t easy. Lots of people will say it’s too tricky, too much of a political landmine, you don’t know the rules of engagement, or the right people. And yes, engaging with Indigenous Australians is a highly nuanced area that requires intelligence, respect and sensitivity. But when you meet and work with brilliant students like Taine and Mannix, you see the amazing positive impact we can have.
So if you’re up for starting your own scholarship, give us a shout and we’ll connect you with the right people. And, going back to my original point about belonging and national pride, does this mean I’ve completely changed my tune and become a flag-waving patriot? Will you see me around in a red MAKE AUSTRALIA GREAT AGAIN baseball cap? Nah, not my vibe. But alongside my co-founder Chiquita King and the incredible talent at Cocogun, I'm committed to doing my bit to make Australia a better, fairer and more progressive space.
